52 THE SEA. 



written on the theme; let the testimony of Dr. Stables,* a surgeon of the Royal Navy, 

 suffice. It shall be told in his own words : 



"One item of duty there is, which occasionally devolves on the medical officer, and 

 for the most part goes greatly against the feeling- of the young surgeon; I refer to his 

 compulsory attendance at floggings. It is only fair to state that the majority of captains 

 and commanders use the cat as seldom as possible, and that, too, only sparingly. In 

 some ships, however, flogging is nearly as frequent as prayers of a morning. , Again, it 

 13 more common on foreign stations than at home, and boys of the first or second class, 

 marines, and ordinary seamen, are for the most part the victims. . . . We were at 

 anchor in Simon's Bay. All the minutiae of the scene I remember as though it were 

 but yesterday. The morning was cool and clear, the hills clad in lilac and green, sea-birds 

 floating high in air, and the waters of the bay reflecting the blue of the sky, and the 

 lofty mountain-sides forming a picture almost dream-like in its quietude and serenity. 

 The men were standing about in groups, dressed in their whitest of pantaloons, bluest 

 of smocks, and neatest of black-silk neckerchiefs. By-and-by the culprit was led in 

 by a file of marines, and I went below with him to make the preliminary examination, 

 in order to report whether or not he might be fit for the punishment. 



" He was as good a specimen of the British mariner as one could wish to look 

 upon hardy, bold, and wiry. His crime had been smuggling spirits on board. 



" ' Needn't examine me, doctor/ said he ; ' I aint afeared of their four dozen ; they 

 can't hurt me, sir leastways my back, you know my breast, though ; hum m ! ' and 

 he shook his head, rather sadly I thought, as he bent down his eyes. 

 " ' What/ said I, ' have you anything the matter with your chest ? ' 

 " ' Nay, doctor, nay ; it's my feelings they'll hurt. I've a little girl at home that 

 loves me, and, bless you, sir, I won't look her in the face again nohow.' 



" I felt his pulse. No lack of strength there, no nervousness ; the artery had the 

 firm beat of health, the tendons felt like rods of iron beneath the finger, and his biceps 

 stood out hard and round as the mainstay of an old seventy-four. . . . All hands 

 had already assembled the men and boys on one side, and the officers, in cocked hats 

 and swords, on the other. A grating had been lashed against the bulwark, and another 

 placed on deck beside it. The culprit's shoulders and back were bared, and a strong 

 belt fastened around the lower part of the loins for protection; he was then firmly tied 

 by the hands to the upper, and by the feet to the lower grating; a little basin of cold 

 water was placed at his feet, and all was now prepared. The sentence was read, and 

 orders given to proceed with the punishment. The cat is a terrible instrument of 

 torture; I would not use it on a bull unless in self-defence; the shaft is about a foot 

 and a half long, and covered with green or red baize, according to taste ; the thongs are 

 nine, about twenty-eight inches in length, of the thickness of a goose-quill, and with 

 two knots tied on each. Men describe the first blow as like a shower of molten lead. 



" Combing out the thongs with his five fingers before each blow, firmly and 

 determinedly was the first dozen delivered by the bo'swain's mate, and as unflinchingly- 

 received . 



* " Medical Life in the Navy," by W. Stables, M.D., &c. 



